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The Seduction of Libraries
Laura Florand is the author of the Amour et Chocolat series (The Chocolate Thief, The Chocolate Kiss). Her newest novel, The Chocolate Touch, was just published by Kensington.
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One Book, One Editor, Two Publications—20 Years Apart
Every editor dreams of working on a book with the power to rewrite history. In my four decades in publishing, I’ve been lucky enough to have had that experience twice—with the same book.
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Are Boomer Authors Becoming Irrelevant?
Closing in on three decades as an author writing nonfiction books for, from, and about the boomer generation, I thought my career was over.
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The Delicate Art of Book Covers
I wanted to have as much input as possible on my book cover, because, after all, and I knew it better than anyone, right? Wrong.
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When Books Get Noisy
This past October my family and I moved to a small coastal town in Maine, not far from E.B. White’s home in North Brooklin.
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Book Publicity -- It's Personal
As our digital presence expands, the relationship between writers and readers is only going to intensify. Where do you draw the line?
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Let’s Make Some Noise
Recently, my company’s bookkeeper, who occupies the office adjoining mine, cautiously stuck her head into my room and gazed at me with a look of grave concern. “Are you all right?”
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Much Ado About Nothing?
I’ve been going nuts lately reading about the government’s prosecution—or is it persecution?—of Apple and five major e-book publishers (who account for the majority of trade book sales), and I feel impelled to get some things off my chest and clarify my mind about this confusing issue.
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How Investment Banking Prepares You To Be a Writer
When I decided to walk away from a 14-year career in investment banking to write a novel, I figured I knew what to expect: a devastating pay cut and the possibility that I would fail to write a good book.
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A Call for Publishers, Libraries to Work Together
The way people read is changing.
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Summer Is for Readers
As soon as San Francisco delivers its first stretch of warm spring days (as it’s doing, gloriously, right now), I start itching for Memorial Day weekend, the kickoff of summer—or, as I think of it, Reading Season.
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Getting to Why
Writing a book is an act of self-revelation, whether or not you mean it to be, and then once the thing is published you face a second act: self-explanation.
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How to Find the Right Book Agent
On a rare day of high-wattage sunshine that momentarily denuded the stygian gloom that is London in late winter, I spent an interesting hour at my U.K. publishers—Random House—listening to the sales and marketing team strategizing for the imminent publication of my 11th novel, Five Days.
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Core Concerns
If the Common Core fails, what comes next?
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How Publishers Can Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Technology
Progress surrounds us. We land rovers on distant planets. Satellites and wires that we will never see or touch allow us to connect with anyone anywhere. And we can read great literature on our phones—or play with pigs in space.
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How Bookselling is Like Bartending
Reflections on a saloon-turned-bookstore's former life. Plus a cocktail recipe especially for booksellers.
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Stress-Testing a Hybrid Publishing Model
A few months ago, I set out to use the tools of self-publishing to release my new novel, The Thief of Auschwitz, as much as possible in the manner of a traditional publishing house.
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Tap-Dancing Authors
Where does one acquire the skills the successful author now needs: ragtime piano, snake handling, banjo picking, or Indian classical dance? This is a serious question for writers in an age when self-promotion has become all-important.
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How Do I Love Thee?
To say that my mother loved poetry does not do her justice.
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Waking the Dead
When novelists resurrect the dead for a work of fiction, research is critical, but it’s only a starting point. Breathing life into a historical figure requires an elusive second step.
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